Echoes from the Beyond
by FlowerOwl
Summary: Throughout Link's adventures, the Hero was little more than a whisper, the faint sense of having seen it all before that filled him when he first opened his eyes and saw the clouds above him. But he was there, bound both to her and to the land.


The first time he felt the presence of the goddess as more than just a distant pull, a thought that seemed to always be present underneath the layers of normalcy, he had been kneeling, the coldness that still remained in the stones beneath him making it so that, although he had at first found the surface quite uncomfortable, Link soon lost sensation in his knees, only able to alternately flex and relax his muscles in an attempt to stay warm. Above him, one of the knights continued to talk, telling him about the history of the order he had now finally become a part of. But although it had been what he had worked towards for so many years, the reason why he had always been able to push himself, always standing up again even when he got pushed down into the mud, as Link fought to remain focused, he could not help but think that it all felt strangely flat for being a ceremony that was supposed to mark the moment he would swear to dedicate his life to the goddess. Although he was kneeling, keeping his gaze fixed on a spot right in front of his left boot, Link could still tell from the sounds of chainmail rustling that the knights who were standing behind him were already bored, simply waiting for the ceremony to be finished so that they would be able to return home again, to go back to the west wing of the academy that had been built specifically for the Knights of Hylia.

It did not feel right to him. All those year where he had dreamt of this moment, Link had always imagined the moment where he would finally be able to leave his childhood behind to instead serve the goddess as one of grandeur, showing him how he had made the correct decision all those years ago when he had first picked up his father's sword, feeling how the hilt of it fit perfectly into his hand, almost feeling himself grow to be able to wield the sword that had been larger than him. Now, he used an even heavier sword, but as Link sat there, kneeling in front of the man who had received the honour of leading the knights and yet had a voice that did not leave any doubts about how trivial he found the task, it was not the weight of the sword on his back that weighed him down. No, it was the dawning realisation of how even the Knights of Hylia, the group who had all taken an oath to protect the goddess and to act in her place, were somehow still not able to show the proper respect for the goddess.

It was then that a wave swept in over him, and like the clouds parting to allow the sunlight to shine down upon the land beneath, his anger and outrage vanished in an instant, instead allowing an almost eerie sense of peace to fill him as a voice whispered into his ear, at once feeling so close that, if he had only reached out, if he had been able to move, Link was certain that he would have found the goddess right there next to him, while still echoing with a hollow sound of distance.

_Do not despair, Hero,_ the voice said, and in that moment, Link could not decide whether it was a deafening roar or the gentlest of whispers, _I am not asking for you to spend every moment of your life in silence and with an upright posture. Forget your anger and the indignation—that is not what I have chosen you for_.

The voice disappeared, leaving as quickly as it had arrived, and no matter how much Link tried to force himself to hear it again, stretching his soul to its limit in an attempt at hearing even a hint of the melodic voice that had called for him again, he could not hear anything.

However, although Link knew that if he were to tell anyone about what had just happened, they would surely have told him that it was something he had imagined, how he had been so desperate to join the knights that he had somehow convinced himself that the goddess had for some reason chosen to reveal herself to him, delivering a message meant only for him, that brief glimpse of her he had been able to feel when he had allowed her voice to surround him, envelop him, had been enough.

As the knight allowed the tip of his blade to brush against his shoulder, the steel delivering a gentle kiss to his cheek before Link was allowed to rise, Link stood tall, with the knowledge that, where he might otherwise have feared that the goddess had looked at them and deemed them unfit to carry her name and to receive the honour of serving her, she was still with them, did still support them.

When he repeated the oath, Link could feel how each word appeared in front of him, the rhythm and rhymes forming tiny drops of light in front of him.

Slowly, almost like he was afraid that they might break, Link reached out towards one of them, and though he heard how the knights, his fellow knights, let out an alarmed shriek as he placed his hand upon the nearest pearl, feeling how it burnt bright against his hand, he was not afraid. It could not hurt him, would not hurt him.

The light almost seemed to pull him closer towards it, wrapping invisible threads around him, gold, white, blue, and marble creating a bridge of light between him and the divine power he could feel right in front of him as the world around him seemed to shift, the sight of the courtyard, the statue, and the rest of the knights almost appearing to bend, like the ripples spreading around a pebble after he had thrown it onto the silent mirror of a still lake, their voices disappearing, flowing together, shifting and turning as they changed, losing their old edge, to instead become a soft laughter and a hand reaching out for him, catching him as he fell towards the stony ground beneath him.

"Whoa," a girl laughed, pulling him back up, making sure that he had regained his balance before she let go of his arm again, "Link, try to watch out will you? Goddesses, if you had done that while receiving your Loftwing, I am certain that the goddess would have decided that you are too clumsy to take to the skies with the rest of us, and then what would you do?"

For a second, the only thing Link could feel was how the air was thinner than what it had been moments before, panic already drowning him, pulling him down as he fought to force enough oxygen into his lungs, but the next moment, a whisper, a gentle touch of wind, told him to remember the promise he had made years ago, his lungs almost feeling like they grew, suddenly making it so that, rather than fighting to breathe, he was able to look up, to see the girl who had only then turned around again, the expression on her face telling him how she was waiting for him to run over and join her on the steps leading from the little platform he was currently standing on towards the statue that towered up in front of them.

Zelda. The word almost felt painful to utter, to think about, and for a split second, he saw something in her smile, in the way her hair caught the sunlight, he thought he had caught a glimpse of before, a long time ago. But it was gone the next second, leaving Link to blink and try to ignore how he could see a thread glittering in the sunlight, connecting his best friend with the top of the statue, to instead run over to join her.

She shook her head at him, but he could tell from how she still did not hesitate to reach out, taking his hand to pull him towards the ledge where she excitedly began to tell him about how she had dreamt about how she would jump off the island, calling for her Loftwing to let it carry her up into the sky, higher up than even the tallest building in Skyloft, somehow making the dream seem like it had been more vivid than the world around them, that, despite how she still paused from time to time to laugh about his absentmindedness, she was not annoyed, not truly.

However, even as she made him promise to be better at paying attention to the world around him, Link could not push the feeling of having seen it all before away. Not completely.

It should have hurt more to see how quickly they all turned towards him, how little it took for them to doubt him, all too ready to forget about the years of friendship, the days they had spent at each other's sides, trusting one another to defend their lives, but as Link saw how the knights little by little, one by one, swore allegiance to Lord Dagianis, he was unable to even cry, much less to scream at them, to allow his soul to express the disappointment and rage that filled him as he witnessed how easy it was for them to forget about the oath to the goddess.

In the end, he simply felt empty. It was as if his soul had taken pity on him, allowing him to shut it all out, feeling nothing but a numb sense of disbelief as the judges looked between himself and the lord, their gazes landing on the lord with his power, strength, words, and support from his friends—for that was what they were, friends, no matter how they now advanced towards him, their swords drawn already like he was their enemy, all of the years seemingly forgotten in that moment.

As Link looked up at them, searching for even a hint of compassion in their eyes, a silent way of expressing how they regretted what had happened during those past months as they pulled him to his feet, he saw only the distanced expression of acceptance shine back down at him.

But where he knew that it should have been enough to break him, that it would have reduced him to a being of pure rage once, the venom taking physical form as he would ask them how they could do this, how they could have been so quick to abandon their ideals and the goddess they had pledged to serve, now, Link simply followed, wanting to at least make it a bit easier for them to lead him out of the room that was only a poor imitation of the court where they had once gathered to decide the punishments for those who broke the laws of the kingdom, making sure that the roof would not prevent the goddess from being able to see, the lack of barriers between themselves and her making it so that she would be able to see that they judged everyone fairly, gave everyone the benefit of the doubt no matter what, to instead take him to the dungeons.

As he made his way down the stairs, halfway dragged along behind those who, only months ago, had been ready to give their lives to protect his, and whom Link knew in his heart he would still sacrifice himself for without hesitation, halfway stumbling along behind them, although he tried to remain hopeful, tried his best not to doubt the goddess and the message she had once imparted to him, Link could not help but wonder if she would have prevented this from happening if they had only acted sooner, stopped the course of the kingdom the moment Lord Dagianis had first managed to convince the people that the idea of the goddess being present at every trial was a farce, a waste of time they could not afford, not with how there were fearful whispers passing through the country, tales of how the earth below their feet was filled with hate, violence, and fear. He wanted to believe that she would have acted, would have arrived, shown them how she had not abandoned them, when she would descend to the ground to restore justice to the land, but with every day that had passed since they had first levelled accusations against him, with every friend who had looked at him, not to tell him that they would support him, believe in him, but to instead send him a doubtful glance before stepping away from him, Link found it increasingly difficult to maintain hope.

Not even as they checked one last time to ensure that he had not somehow been able to smuggle a weapon, an escape plan, with him into the room, ignoring how he tried to tell them that, while the law was unjust, it was still the law, did his friends look at him. But, rather than the anger that might have flowed through him if it had all happened years earlier, Link only felt saddened at how they had seemingly decided to let the distance between them grow in an attempt at avoiding having to face the feelings that would no doubt threaten to drown them the moment they stopped to think about what had happened.

They left without a word, and although Link thought he could detect a hint of hesitation as Orville left the room, the door still slammed behind him as he let go of the heavy metal, the sound of metal twisting against metal telling him how they had both locked the door leading into the cell and into the past they had shared.

They were leaving him there to die.

For the first couple of days, he found strength in his knowledge that this was what the goddess had wanted, that this had been what she had warned him about when she had told him not to despair all those years ago, but as the time passed, only visible to him through the journey of the shadows in the cell, he gradually lost hope.

This was it. He was going to die in here, and as he slowly felt himself grow weaker, the strength he had built through the days of travelling with the Knights of Hylia leaving his body, Link began to dream less about how the goddess would save him. Instead, his dreams consisted of nothing but darkness, and perhaps that was for the better. Link doubted he would have been able to fill them with anything that was not the feeling of both rage and desperation that crept in over him when he would wake up each day to see that he was still trapped in there.

Life continued on, Link could tell that much from the sounds of laughter that would sometimes pour into the cell, muffled by the thick layers of stone and metal bars that separated him from the rest of the world, but, for him, it might as well have stopped the moment Orville had let the door slam behind him. Without his friends, without his cause, there was little left for him to live for. Not quite finding the strength to look up at the little slice of the sky that was still visible through the tiny window underneath the ceiling, Link resigned himself to his fate.

It was in that moment that he heard the voice again.

Almost seeming to echo through the room around him, for a second chasing the dark thoughts away from him, it brought a rare glimpse of light, joy, and hope into the room, and although he had once promised himself that he was not waiting for her to return again, Link could not keep himself from looking up, the shadow of hope making his heart beat faster as the voice brought an end to the horrible silence that had surrounded him for so long.

_Remain strong,_ she whispered, the sound of her voice moving through the air around him, making it impossible for him to decide the source, _I have not left you, not yet, just as I have not left this kingdom. I am still here, waiting for the time where I can reveal my plan to you to come. Do not lose hope, do not despair, my Hero—I am still with you._

If he had had any energy to spare, if he had been able to open his mouth without feeling how the words burnt against the sides of his throat, his vocal cord hoarse with misuse, Link might have laughed. Now, after everything that had happened, she wanted him to believe that she was really there? More than anything, he wanted to ask her where she had been when he had first noticed the signs of corruption, the first time he had tried to ask for her guidance, when he had begged her for help, only to find the silence echoing in his ears.

However, no matter how many times he tried to form the words, he could not create a single sound, and, though he did at first assume that it was a matter of how his body had become weak during his imprisonment, Link soon realised how it was really because his soul was keeping him from saying anything he already knew he would regret the moment the goddess' presence would fade, leaving the coldness to once more fill the air around him.

It almost required more strength than what he could find hidden away in unknown layers of his consciousness, but in the end, Link managed to nod slowly. If the goddess wanted for him to remain strong, then he would do that, as hopeless as it had all felt even a minute ago.

For her, he would do anything.

The touch was as light as a feather, almost so light that he would not have noticed it had it not been for how he had spent ages without the chance of talking with anyone, but as the air in front of him waved like it had done the summer when he and the other knights had travelled into the depths of Eldin, it felt almost like the goddess had reached out, placing a hand on his cheek, a silent reassurance that she was indeed still there with him.

Link's world shifted, the walls around him disappearing, and for a heartbeat, a tiny fraction of a moment, he could feel how a little of his strength returned to him, allowing him to stand up without help, although the harsh shove he received the next moment sent him falling backwards, narrowly managing not to fall as he fought to recover his balance.

As Link looked up, he could barely even remember why his arms had felt so heavy that he had not thought to bring them up in front of his face to protect himself, but when he was met with the sight of Groose standing in front of him, sending him a smile that did not hold any promise of friendship, he already knew that it had been a mistake not to at least attempt to protect himself, a feeling that was only confirmed when Groose took another step towards him, advancing with the same expression on his face as that of the man Link had seen in his dreams.

"Come on," Groose sneered at him, "why don't you at least attempt to defend yourself? Is it because you know that I am right when I say that you do not belong here? Or is it perhaps because you don't know what to do without Zelda at your side to protect you?"

Another hard shove, this time accompanied by a laugh, sent Link stumbling backwards, only narrowly stopping himself from falling to the ground.

And then, her voice bringing him a new sense of strength, Zelda appeared from behind him, the sound of a door slamming telling him how she had only stepped into the hallway a moment ago and yet had not wasted a second before she had run over to stand in front of him. Even from where he was standing, only able to see the back of her hair, Link was certain that the glare she levelled at Groose would have been enough to make even the bravest of them turn around immediately, and Groose did indeed take a step backwards in response to it.

"And what do you think you are doing?" Zelda asked. Her voice could almost have been described as calm had it not been for how the anger was waiting right below the surface.

"I—" Groose began, but he did not get the chance to finish the sentence before Zelda had interrupted him, the edge to her voice leaving them with no doubts that they did not want to interrupt her in that moment.

"No, I know what you were doing, you were bullying Link." perhaps it was a testament to the courage Link had once heard a few of the professors praise Groose for, or maybe he simply did not know when it was better to remain silent, but he did try to open his mouth to get a word in edgeways, though Zelda did not even give him the chance, already continuing. "Stop doing that! I don't know why you decided to go after him, but I am telling you right now that I will not hesitate to let you regret it the next time I hear about this happening! Do you understand me?"

For a second, Link thought that Groose would say no, the look on his face already telling him how he did not agree with Zelda. But then he nodded, mumbled something about how he did indeed understand her, and disappeared, Cawlin and Strich following right behind him.

Zelda shook her head as she turned around to look at him, and for a second, Link was certain that he had seen that before, how he had looked upon her in a previous life to find the same kind of disappointment in her eyes. But the feeling had passed a moment later, having instead been replaced by gratitude as she reached out, placing a hand on his cheek to make sure that he was all right.

"I am sorry about not being here sooner," Zelda said as he somehow managed to convince her that he was fine, "I should have come here the moment they first started picking on you."

In that moment, Link was not sure if she was referring to the moment when he had exited the classroom to find them waiting for him outside the door, or if she was perhaps thinking about the first time Groose had stuck out his foot in front of him in the hallway, nor did he care.

So, placing an arm around her shoulders, he shook his head. "It is fine. I am just happy that you are here now."

In a morbidly gruesome way, it was almost funny how quickly things changed after the war began.

Link was not sure exactly how much time had passed between the moment when he had finally convinced the guards outside his cell to tell him why he could hear screams and the second the door was opened again, allowing the warmth of the hallway to reach him, but it did not feel like it could have been more than a few weeks, a month at most. That was how little time it had taken for them to realise that they needed him.

As Orville handed his sword to him, the metal shining brighter than the sun he had not felt for ages and the rest of his friends standing around him, Link could see how their eyes betrayed the stoic expressions they had painted onto their faces. They were terrified of what was to come, the idea that perhaps they would not be saved from the destruction that had already claimed the life of Lord Dagianis frightening them.

But despite the years he had lost to his imprisonment, as Orville presented him with his sword, Link did not hesitate to lift it, feeling how the familiar weight it added to his arm almost made him feel lighter than he had done in ages, the metal being a natural extension of himself even after all those years. His friends needed him, the country needed him, and while they had been ready to simply let him be dragged into the room, doing nothing to help him, Link would not allow anyone or anything to harm them. Even now, after so many years where his muscles and strength had slowly diminished, he was still a Knight of Hylia, and if they needed the lion in him to defend them, then he would need to bare his fangs once more.

Outside, as they stood on top of the building that had been his prison for so long, Link could see how the signs of the impending doom surrounded them, everything, from the way the children hid behind their parents to the way the parents had wrapped their arms around them, shielding them from harm, telling him how Lord Dagianis had not been the only one to suffer the consequences of the war that was slowly moving towards them.

He heard an alarmed yell, a hundred people at once turning their gazes skyward, and the next moment, a shadow covered the sky.

Link did not realise whom he was looking at until he recognised the familiar sound of a string being pulled back, the arrow already waiting to be let loose, but then, he did also hurry to act, gesturing for those around him to lover their weapons as the red bird landed among them, a few of the knights being forced to move out of the way.

But while the bird was no doubt a majestic sight, the red feathers shining in the sunlight, Link's gaze was drawn towards the its rider.

Dressed in white, with her long hair billowing behind her even as she stood still, there was no doubt in his mind that he was not looking at another mortal. Around him, Link could hear the hushed voices of his fellow knights, the little gasps as they realised just who she was soon spreading to the crowd around them as well, but, in that moment, the entire world might as well have disappeared around them, for all he could see was how the goddess looked at him, her hand resting on the soft feathers of the bird for a moment before she walked towards him. Even when he looked into her eyes, Link was not able to sense her feelings and thoughts, the sensations that enveloped him, forming a vortex around them.

Finally, she seemed to bring a hint of order to the chaos that had filled the land since the first time he had heard the rumours of how Lord Dagianis had died, a smile that did not hold the same joy as he was used to seeing in the gesture crossing her lips for a moment as she stepped towards him.

_I have arrived,_ he heard her say, her voice being so clear and distinct that it did not sound like they were surrounded by thousands of people all pushing and shouting to get a chance to catch a glimpse of the stranger who had descended from the sky. But as Link looked at her, he could see that her lips had not moved.

"You—" he whispered, already knowing that, no matter how the sound should drowned out by the voices around him, she would still hear him, "you are really here."

An emotion he might almost have thought was regret flickered across her face as she sent him a nod. _I am. The moment for me to join you once more has finally arrived. But I wish that I would have been able to take a physical form sooner._

Link blinked, but no matter how many times he tried to reach her again, she did not answer his questions.

Instead, she turned around, facing the rest of the Knights of Hylia at once. Her voice appeared to be louder than the roar of Eldin Volcano while still having the softness of the air as she told them about how she had come to save them all from the Demon King's army. Though he tried his best to remain focused, to remember his questions, it did not feel like it took more than a minute before Link looked at her with the same kind of silent admiration as the people around him.

However, as she finished explaining how there was nothing they could do to avert the attack that was already waiting on the horizon, Hylia turned towards him, the aura around her almost seeming to grow as she bowed her head, the apology evident though the only thing he could hear, the only thing she allowed the rest of the crowd to hear, was how they would need his help.

Looking at the crowd around them, Link could see how the request for him to dedicate his life to the goddess, the land, and the people next to him stared back, reflected in their eyes.

The rational thing to do, the thing he would have done once, would have been to deny them his help, to tell them that after having spent four years wasting away, he would not come back to join them in a battle he could already tell would, without a doubt, lead him to his death. But even if he had wanted to see the hope disappear from his friends' eyes, Link doubted he would have been able to say it, and in the end, he did not even attempt to. Instead, he stepped forward, towards the goddess, feeling how she almost seemed to draw him towards her as she presented him with a sword.

That was what made him stop, coming to a sudden halt. It was not the fear of death or the knowledge that his friends had only returned to his side once they had realised how they needed him. No, it was the way the metal sparkled, clean and whole, almost like the blade had been crafted specifically to mock him.

He fell to his knees, already knowing that he could not wield the weapon. It had been made for goddesses; he had no right to lift it, not after he had spent those years in the darkness, feeling how his hope had died a little each day. However, when he tried to explain it to the goddess, how she might once have thought he could be worthy, but that he was not the same person he had been back then, she simply shook her head, an almost pitying look that felt so much more painful than having his freedom taken from him flickering in her eyes.

_You are the hero,_ she said, her voice echoing through his head though she had not moved her lips, _when I choose you to be my hero, I knew of the fate that awaited you. Trust me, this has always been your destiny. I have witnessed your struggles, I have seen what you have done, and I know that your soul is still the same as the one that pulled me towards you._

The revelation that through all the days he had looked towards the little slice of the sky that had been visible from his cell, wondering if perhaps the goddess could not see him while he was trapped underground, she had always been there, should have been enough to make him stumble, to make Link have to change his worldview, but, for reasons even he could not understand, it felt like it should have been obvious to him. Of course she had seen it all; of course she had been with him through it all. How could he ever have thought that she had left him? Link did not know the answer to that question, but he did know that the feeling that washed in over him was shame. Shame that he had not been able to hide his doubts from her, shame that she had been there with him during his most hopeless moments.

_Link, _her voice called, reaching him, making him look back up at her, _you are still worthy of this sword. You have always been. Now, I am asking you to accept your destiny._

Looking back up at her, Link could not help but feel relieved that he already knew how those around him would not be able to hear his answer over the deafening roar of the crowd as he stepped over, placing his hand on the hilt of the sword before making eye contact with the goddess. "If you ask me to, I will do it," he said, making sure to keep his voice even, controlled, "I will do it without hesitation!"

He had thought it would be what she had wanted to hear, how he was still loyal to her, would do what she told him to without fearing for his own life, but as she looked into his eyes, Link could not help but wonder if the little shadow that passed over the triumphant expression could perhaps have been a hint of sadness.

But it was gone just as quickly as it had appeared, the goddess instead entrusting him with the sword before turning around to, for what felt like it could very well have been the first time, let the crowd waiting below them see her face as she addressed them. "I have come here to search for a hero who would be brave enough, kind enough, compassionate enough to risk his life to save everyone. Now, I have found him."

Link did not hear the roar that answered her words, and although he could see how the excitement travelled through the air, passing from one person to another, the world around him soon became mist, the colours changing and growing as he felt gravity shift around him, soon pulling him backwards rather than downwards, the vertigo forcing him to close his eyes.

When he opened them again, he found himself lying in his bed, looking up at the ceiling in his room at the Knight Academy, and though he could not forget about the feeling in his stomach, how it seemed to pull him towards something else, reminding him that there was someone he had been supposed to help, as he turned to the side to see how Zelda was sitting on a chair next to his bed, having propped her elbow up onto the blanket, resting her chin in her hand, all memories of how the adrenaline had flowed through him as the sharp sound of metal cutting through the air reached his ears soon disappeared, leaving only a vague sense of confusion behind.

"What…" he asked, and to his surprise, the sensation of the words passing through his throat made him wince slightly, having to gather his thoughts before he was able to continue, "what happened?"

A dark look passed over Zelda's face, and already before she had even opened her mouth to answer, Link found himself regretting having even asked in the first place. "Groose did. I don't know why my warning was suddenly not enough to keep him from picking on you, but for some reason he decided to shove you into a wall, and then, somehow, you got knocked unconscious."

A damp piece of cloth was placed on his forehead, and although he could not deny that everything hurt, as Link looked up at Zelda to see how the determined look in her eyes made it appear like she was shining, he felt more at ease than he had done in ages.

The moment the thought struck him, the feeling of having forgot about something, something important, did as well.

A name, Link realised, the feeling was a name. Hylia, that was it.

But even as he tried to remember why that name was so important, why he had remembered it and felt a pull towards something unknown, he was not able to remain focused for long. Perhaps it was an effect of how he had supposedly hit a wall, but the more Link tried to force himself to remember the details, to be able to clearly see the person who appeared in his mind, a blur of colours and feelings, the harder it was for him to stay there.

It did not take long before he found himself unable to muster the strength to force his eyes to remain open. As Link slipped away into unconsciousness, the sound of the two names, Zelda and Hylia, blurred together, forming a single plea for him to awaken.

They needed him to complete the sword.

At first, Link had not fully understood what Hylia had meant when she had told him how the blade had to be wielded by his pain, but it had only been a question of time before he had realised what it really meant. He had always been meant to spend those years underground, Lord Dagianis had only fulfilled his destiny when he had pointed towards him, making his friends abandon him, leaving him to his fate.

Had it not been for how those years had provided him with more time to ponder what role he would have to play in his own life, Link might have felt betrayed, both by his friends, the goddess who had chosen him to become her hero, and fate itself, but as he realised the connection, the only thing he could feel was a strange sense of acceptance. In the end, he had always been meant to become the hero and to survive it, it had all been inevitable. The only thing that had not already been decided was the fate of the world around him, so as the Demon King's army slowly moved through the land, leaving nothing but devastation in its wake, Link pushed himself to move faster, to fight with strength he had not known he even possessed, all to buy Hylia more time to perfect her plan.

He had not asked her for the details, trusting that she would know what she had to do, but from the way her gaze lingered upon him every time they had met since the day when he had first stepped into the sun, Link knew that he would not survive the battle. In a way, he supposed he should have felt scared, should have tried to fight his destiny. After all, even though he had sworn that if the time would come, he would be ready to give his own life for the goddess, part of him still longed for the normalcy he had known growing up. But for the most part, the knowledge of his own impending demise only left him with an empty feeling of peace.

So, hoping that the fight would provide him with some kind of closure, a way to assure himself that he had died for something, Link poured his heart and soul into every last attack, and, though those next to him disappeared one after another, he still remained standing, even when he could barely hear anything over the sound of his own heartbeat, the organ fighting to be able to supply his limbs with strength, even as the countless amount of scars, wounds, and burns that felt like they covered his entire body made it impossible for him to even stand up.

It was in that moment that the giant bird that had carried Hylia to the ground, to them, landed next to him—a Loftwing, Link recalled, the memory of how Hylia had told him about the majestic bird beginning to feel soft around the edges as the loss of blood made him dizzy, she had called him a Loftwing—and as the bird looked down at him, intelligence making his eyes sparkle, the message could not have been clearer. The bird had come to help him, to allow him to move close to the Demon King.

Link climbed up onto it, feeling how the bird tried his best to stay still so that he would not fall off, but as Link slung his arms around his neck, moving as the bird instructed him to do, feeling how the soft feathers welcomed him, he knew that he would never have fallen off, not when this, soaring through the air on top of the Loftwing, holding his sword up above his head as he waited for the right moment to arrive, felt more natural than anything he had ever done before. Truth to be told, it felt even more right than when he had knelt down and sworn allegiance to Hylia.

As his newfound strength washed over him, making the colours around him appear brighter, by the time Link finally descended upon his foe, he was barely able to feel how his instincts failed him in that second, how his arm moved too slowly to block the attack, and even when he saw how it happened, the cold blade of the sword that felt more like ice than any metal Link had ever seen before slipping underneath his own blade and continuing directly towards him, he was only able to let out a little, relieved sigh as he realised how it would not hit the Loftwing.

The bird that had taken him into battle would not be harmed.

But the sigh soon became a pained groan as the tip of the sword made contact with him, rendering the tunic, chainmail, and layers of leather that had been meant to protect him useless as the blade continued on its course.

It was over before it had even begun, the Demon King laughing at him as Link let go of the Loftwing, the bird somehow either sensing his pain or noticing how he slipped from his seat upon its back, and reacting accordingly, diving towards the ground.

He hit the cold surface of the scorched earth with a thud that echoed in his ears, even though he could barely register the impact of the landing through the pain that burnt through his body. His foe must have thought that he was already dead, or at least that was what Link hoped when he heard how the Demon King left him to search for the goddess. He preferred not thinking about the alternative explanation, how he might simply never have posed a threat to him, being little more than a minor annoyance.

Well, if he was an annoyance, at least he had succeeded, for as Link lay there, feeling how the ground beneath him became stained with the red colour of his blood, he could hear the panicked and hopeful yells of his friends as part of the earth was lifted up from beneath them, taking them all up above the skies where they would be safe, and as he heard his friends scream his name, begging him to join them, Link somehow found the strength to push himself up from the ground, stepping out from behind the rock where he had landed, to both let them see him and give himself one last chance to say goodbye to his friends. For that was what this would be.

As they continued to yell at him, gesturing for him to step into the column of light that still connected them with the surface, Link simply smiled and waved at them before continuing with his quest, lifting the sword that had become a natural extension of himself above his head, readying himself for one final attack.

It was then that he saw her, Hylia, falling through the air in front of him, and the shock of seeing how she reached out towards him was almost enough for him to drop the sword, unsure of what he would now have to do. But he remained strong, tightening his grip around the hilt of the sword, at once both reaching out towards her, feeling how the space that separated them was only a few centimetres wide, and lifting the sword higher.

The sound of a scream reached him, but the voice was not the one he had heard when Hylia had spoken, it was mortal, frightened and alone, and in that moment, Link did not know why he was standing with his sword when what he really should have done was to follow after her, rescuing his friend, or why he was reaching for a girl he did not know, momentarily abandoning his duty and the task Hylia had trusted him enough to give him.

His mind felt like it would split, revealing how he had never been meant to do it all, but he refused to falter for even a moment, not when he knew that he had to at once complete what he had started all those years ago and save Zelda.

And for a single, glorious second, he was the judge, jury, and executioner, possessing all the strength in the world, as he descended, reaching for her, and plunged the sword deep into the ground, feeling the true extent of the power flow through him as his life slowly seeped out of him.

When his eyes closed, he could see both how his own reflection in the blade of the sword showed a little boy, a child who could barely be older than he had been when he had first knelt down in the courtyard behind the Temple of Hylia, and how his best friend was pulled away from him by those he had thought he had finally been able to defeat.

That was how he lay there on the ground, already knowing how, while his sacrifice had not been able to end the battle, merely allowing the world to escape it for a moment, his friends had at least escaped, and as the world around him shifted, Link could feel how, rather than the colours growing brighter, more vibrant, it was nothing but darkness that crept towards him.

He floated through the air, halfway caught between the cold pain of death and the light he could see in front of him. But no matter how many times Link tried to either turn around, to cling to his old life as he felt how Hylia lifted him from the ground, crying over his death, or to head into the pillar of light in front of him, only to find that, much like it had been the case when his friends had begged him to join them above the clouds, he could not reach it, he was stuck in that space between the two, neither here nor there, not fully alive and not fully dead.

Above him, he could hear how Hylia spoke, promising him that the next time they would meet, she would be a mortal as well, and although he wanted to reach up, to say something and tell her that there was no need for her to weep for him, he was not afraid of this, he could not move. It appeared that the moment the metal had hit him, it had done more than simply wounding him, having made it so that his body had also become as heavy as metal. At least that was how it felt as he tried to remain aware of what was happening, feeling how each second made him slip further away from Hylia and the warmth and promises of a bright future her voice had once held for him. Now, there was only darkness around him, the light burning in front of him appearing to be so far away that he could not hope to ever be able to reach it.

And then her voice made it all seem a little brighter, kept the hopelessness and pain at bay for a moment as she pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead, almost like she willed her message to reach him. _ We will meet again in another life, _she said softly, and although Link had once thought that he would try his best to fight to stay alive for as long as possible when the day for him to die would come, desperately clinging onto his life, the moment her words reached him, whispering how this was not the end, but merely a new beginning, Link found himself embracing the silence and numbness that enveloped him as he sank deeper into the darkness.

He did not disappear all at once.

At first, he felt how the memories of his mother, how she had always encouraged him when he had wanted to learn how to fight, how to lift a sword and give it a purpose, how she could make any wound feel better by kissing it, grew fuzzy, soon becoming dust that the winds around him could sweep away until he could not remember them having ever been there.

The process continued, reaching every little part of his life, the first time he had seen the Knights of Hylia ride into the village, a little boy looking up at the faces of the knights as the sun almost seemed to make them glow and knowing that he wanted to be just like them, the first time he had ever earned a little nod from his teachers at the academy, how he had knelt down and repeated the vow, promising to protect those around him—everything.

It did not take long before his name disappeared as well, leaving only the memory of how he had once been chosen to become a hero, the Hero, behind as he felt how he grew smaller and smaller, his thoughts disappearing little by little to instead make space for the new life he could see waiting in front of him.

The world shifted, ages passed, and he saw how a new civilisation flourished, having already forgot about the reason for why they lived above the clouds, regarding the land below the barrier as a mysterious place.

The Hero saw it all, but he could no longer remember why he felt drawn towards the land itself, why he seemed to change with it, growing stronger as they returned to the surface again to continue the cycle. All that he knew now was that, somehow, a part of him had lived on inside the heart of a young boy who had never known about the destiny he had been given, only that his friend had needed him and how he would do everything to keep her safe.

Perhaps that was why the Hero did not fear as he felt his own presence grow weaker, becoming little more than a pull, a sense of déjà vu that would sometimes wash over him, even when he knew he had never visited the place before, present in the nightmares that still sometimes returned to haunt him after all those years he had spent with Zelda on the Surface.

It was after one of those nights where he had disappeared into his past, the dreams reducing him to a panicked mess as Zelda shook him awake, that Link opened his eyes to see her face directly next to his, Zelda having planted her elbow against the mattress beneath them to be able to elevate herself, and thought he could see a hint of something in her eyes, something that reminded him of the person he had once been willing to give his life to protect. But as he returned to the moment, looked around in the little bedroom of the house they had built over the years, he realised just how silly the idea had been. It was, after all, no wonder he had looked at her and seen a person he knew he would go through fire and water for, not when he had already done that.

"Link?" Zelda's voice was soft in the dim lightning of the room, making it feel almost like it had a physical form. "Are you all right?"

He allowed himself a moment to ponder the question, to reflect and ask himself whether he truly could say that he was fine. And, from someplace deep inside, he could feel how a voice spoke to him, smiling as it told him that this, the new life they had found on the surface, was so much more than just all right, it was pure bliss for him.

So when Link nodded, he knew that he did not have to think about the question of whether or not his answer would be enough to dispel the little traces of worry he could still detect in Zelda's voice, for there was nothing in his voice that did not show exactly how much he meant it as he answered. "Yes, I am fine. In fact, I… I am better now than I have ever been before."

For a second, he thought that she would say something, Zelda looking at him for a long moment, the white nightgown flowing around her as a breeze entered the room, but as he blinked, the breeze disappearing again, he could see how she was really smiling down at him.

"That is all I could have asked for," she whispered, pulling him closer to her.

Link fell asleep shortly after that, leaving the Hero to be able to, for a moment, have a second of clarity, allowing him to see how, even after everything he had been through, he had somehow found happiness in the end.

And that, the little fraction of a second where he was able to feel how his mind relaxed, knowing that the person he would do everything for was safe next to him, was all he could have asked for, so he gladly retreated back into his place in Link's subconsciousness, allowing him to enjoy his life without the burden of remembering his previous life.


End file.
